European youth make friends for life
By Rezina Ahmed, Andrew Janes, Veeral Dhanani (afterword by Edwin Farr)

In July 2003, three young people from the UK went to the European League of Stuttering Associations (ELSA) youth meeting in the Netherlands (Nijmegen). They describe a life-changing week.

Rezina; introduction
ELSA is set up to bring together many European national stuttering associations to discuss the work of the associations and to encourage young people to get involved with their national associations and self-help groups. It creates a supportive network of young people who stutter who share different knowledge and experiences of their stutter and empathise and support each other. This year's theme was 'Extending Communication - Extending Borders'.

I went to this conference for personal interest to learn how other European countries deal with stuttering. I talked to many people - finding out how they view their stutter, how they deal with it, what speech and alternative therapies they have been on and general life experiences.

Andrew
There were 28 delegates from Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, and the UK.

Konrad Schaefers explained how national stammering associations work; specifically the German association. Then came the week's main activity. Since the internet is one of the most important and effective ways of getting information to young people who stammer, our task was to design websites (on paper) for imaginary new national stammering associations. To get some ideas, we looked at some existing websites from stammering associations around the world and you'll be pleased to know that the BSA's website was judged to be one of the best.

Edwin Farr spoke to us about ELSA and ISA (the International Stuttering Association), how they act as umbrella organisations for the national associations and how the role of the European Disability Forum is raising awareness of disability including stuttering across Europe.

Rezina
On Tuesday we continued designing a website for a national stuttering association and looked at how to get funding, reach people who stutter, promote the latest news, therapies and support the setting up of self help groups.

We also discussed alternative therapies such as Neuro Liguistic Programming (NLP), and were also taught some simple principles used in acupunture of tapping meridian points on certain parts of our bodies together with positive affirmatives. This type of alternative therapy which I have already been on in England is called Thought Field Therapy (TFT), discovered in America by Dr. Roger Callahan. It is used in the states to treat people with phobias and anxieties and it seems like it is quietly catching on in other European countries too.

Veeral
Despite the fatigue, there was an undercurrent of excitement and anticipation about finishing our website projects.

During Thursday we learned some Dutch sign language, to make clear the distinction between speech and communication, and to show that speech is only one aspect of an individual's communicative arsenal. The presentation of the websites after dinner was a tremendous success. The four groups took it in turn to present and there was a lot of support from the audience for each speaker. This ensured an engaging, humorous evening.

On Friday we did some gesturing and mime - non-verbal communication to show us that effective communication can take place without speech. It also warmed us up for the night's entertainment! The task was simple: in our four groups, we had to perform a ten minute dramatic piece using only gestures and mimes.

You really had to be there to see how good the plays were. Our group had shared so much and become so close over just five days that there were no inhibitions or reservations. During those brief moments in the spotlight, the actors and actresses just opened up and let their imaginations guide them, accompanied all the way by unconditional support from the audience. The result was simply magical.

At the end of the evening there were big pieces of paper going around for every member of the group to write messages for everybody else.

Andrew
I collected my comment sheet on Saturday and was pleased to be a 'really English gentleman' (it's official: London accents are 'great').

After the last goodbye I felt rather lonely. It was very hard to believe that I hadn't met any of the delegates only six days earlier. I consoled myself with plotting how I'd tell my work colleagues about 'doing lunch' with a Scandinavian blonde...

Rezina; conclusion
I discovered that on a basic level our emotions and reactions connected to our stuttering were the same.

For the first time I really set myself free sharing my own shameful, resentful and embarrassing experiences of my stammer with people who were understanding and deeply empathising. I have made many good friends at the conference and exchanged e-mails and phone numbers. Now I know if ever I feel down or need positive encouragement, all I have to do is log on to the net. It has been confirmed for me that a lot of consistent positive thinking helps us deal with and overcome our fears and anxieties associated with stammering. Everyone was very open, exchanging views and sharing personal stories.

It is a journey which I will remember for the rest of my life. I came back to England with the view of re-joining my local self help group and working on my presentation and public speaking skills armed with encouragement from Edwin Farr, the ELSA leader/organiser.

A lot of the European young people left with the intention of starting their own self help group in their country or in some way get involved with their national stuttering association. But best of all everyone reached out and made friends across the borders.

An organiser's perspective (Edwin Farr)
How can we repeat the success of the 3rd youth meeting in Sweden 2000 we said? All ELSA's youth meetings have had a similar format to bring young pws together; we have stuck to that format because it works. It always works because we have been lucky to have such quality caring and sensitive people attend.

These are the people who could be the future management boards of the national stuttering associations, and these are the people who need to be developed to play a major role in their associations. We felt that if we enabled them to network early in their life then it would bode well for future exchange and partnerships. The people who came to Nijmegen came as equals and all left as winners. They came to the meetings on the Sunday apprehensive because most of them didn't know anybody and the majority left on Saturday having made friends and contacts for life. To see this transformation and to see the friendships and partnerships develop and flourish is almost a 'wonder of the world'.

I count myself lucky that I witnessed it.

From the Winter 2003 edition of Speaking Out